Episode 4877/4878 (23 June 2014)
Ronnie is forced to reconsider her priorities and makes a decision about her life. Tina and Tosh take the first steps to starting a family but will Tina be able to convince Tosh it's what she really wants? Nancy is in for a shock when she discovers that Johnny is hiding a secret from the Carter family. Synopsis Dean is watching a drunk and sleeping Shirley in the Square Gardens. Roxy walks past and wakes her up, despite Dean’s protests. Roxy takes Shirley back to number 27 and gives Ronnie flowers to celebrate her being off-licence. Shirley snidely comments on this – it’s ironic that Ronnie gets her freedom while Phil throws his away. She informs Ronnie and Roxy that Phil has proposed to Sharon. Ronnie tries to empathise but this upsets Shirley further and she leaves. Phil picks up Sharon from hospital. She is reluctant to leave but is encouraged when Phil shows her the engagement ring she can show off. Ronnie finds a forlorn Shirley at the George Street bus stop. Shirley tells Ronnie that Phil doesn’t love Sharon, but Ronnie insists that she needs to accept that he’s made his choice. Shirley questions how well Ronnie really knows Phil. Ronnie responds by telling Shirley that Phil told her that she was a mess. Shirley is fuming and heads straight over to Phil’s; Ronnie insists that she tried to stop her from coming over. This riles Shirley and she screams at Ronnie that it was Phil himself who paid the blokes to beat up Sharon at the Albert. Phil tries to deny it, but when Ronnie asks him outright, his silence speaks volumes. After Shirley leaves, Phil tries to justify his actions to Ronnie, explaining that Sharon wouldn’t listen to him about needing security at the bar and that they weren’t meant to touch her. As the argument gets heated, Ronnie drops a bombshell on Phil – she’s pregnant. When Sharon enters the living room, Ronnie tells Phil to ‘tell her as Shirley won’t keep quiet.’ Phil has to cover quickly and claims to Sharon that Ronnie was referring to Shirley knowing about the engagement. Ronnie returns home and ignores Roxy. Phil follows shortly after and Ronnie tells Phil that she isn’t keeping the baby. She goes on to explain that in her life she has to have back-up, opens her bedside drawer and brandishes a gun. As Phil goes to head back to Sharon he tells Ronnie that when life gives you chances, you have to take them; giving her food for thought. Later, Ronnie heads over to Phil’s and tells him that she’s going away – she’s changed her mind and is keeping the baby. She tells him to keep her secret and she’ll keep his. He offers her money, but she refuses it and instead asks him to dispose of the gun. When Dennis arrives home early from school, Phil hastily hides the gun under Sharon’s coat. He tells Ronnie to ‘take that with you’ meaning the gun – however Ronnie assumes he means the money he has left her on the table, which she pockets before leaving. Roxy comes home to find Ronnie packing her things to leave. As she heads off she tells Roxy that she doesn’t trust Aleks. Phil meets Shirley in Walford Park; she got his message. He pins her against the wall and tells her to stay away – he loves Sharon and he’s marrying her. Shirley warns him that when she wants to, she will spill his secret, but he reminds her that he’s not the only one with secrets. He also demands his ten thousand pounds back. Ronnie arrives at the tube station to find that her tube is cancelled and so she flags a taxi to Kings Cross. She is shocked when the driver turns round and it is Alfie. He begs her not to say anything; she agrees. Back at Phil’s Sharon nervously wanders downstairs, thinking she has heard a noise. As she heads into the kitchen she finds the gun still hidden under her coat. She takes it out of the bag and holds it, a look of shock and fear on her face.... Alfie is struggling to make sales on the stall. He gets a phone call from a distressed Kat and dashes round to the house to find her doubled up in pain, thinking that the babies are on their way. After a short while, Kat assures him that the pain has stopped. Alfie tells Terry that he is worried about struggling for money with the twins on the way. Terry empathises with Alfie and tells him how worried he was about money when Nikki was pregnant with Rosie. When Alfie realises that Terry’s cab is free, he implies to Terry that he’d like to use the cab to make a bit of extra cash... Billy tells Mick and Linda that there is a fundraising event taking place for Janet’s school – a sponsored swim in which all the children’s dads swim a combined distance of a thousand lengths. As Billy can’t swim, he angles for Mick to step up to the mark. Mick tells Billy he is too busy, but Dean agrees to sign up. Dean and Mick banter about who would be the faster swimmer. When Janet herself asks Mick to swim for her, Mick relents and asks Billy to put his name down. Linda is concerned about what will happen when people find out that Mick can’t swim. Later that day, Mick heads to the pool to give swimming a shot. He gets to the edge of the pool, looks out across it and realises he can’t get in. He is angry with himself as he leaves the building. Linda is babying Johnny; much to Nancy’s disapproval and sarcastic comments. Nancy walks in on Johnny stuffing his exam results letter into his bag and thinks it’s his gay lifestyle magazine that he’s hiding. When Johnny leaves the room, Nancy spots Johnny’s exam results letter, telling him he’s failed, in his bag, grabs it and reads it. Later, she finds a worried Johnny outside the Vic. Johnny feels that he has let his parents down – again. Nancy reminds him that Mick and Linda will find out eventually so he needs to tell them. However, Johnny is adamant that they won’t notice and tells Nancy to stop interfering. Linda sees a forlorn Johnny and tells him how proud she is of him for being at university and that she knows his results are due any day now. Linda continues babying Johnny who eventually snaps that he isn’t a baby and asks to have a talk privately with Linda and Mick. Johnny tells his parents that he’s failed some of his exams but can re-sit over the summer. Mick assures him that he hasn’t let them down , but Linda leaps straight to the conclusion that the tutors don’t know what they’re on about. Mick tells Linda that they must agree to step back and let Johnny prove that he can sort it himself – Linda clearly doesn’t agree. Tina is clearing plates outside the Café when some young lads on bikes screech past and knock Sonia’s home-made cake out of her hands; ruining it. Sonia explains that it is Morgan’s birthday – Carol had promised to bake him a cake but couldn’t as it is her final session of chemotherapy today, so she baked one instead. Tina offers to re-make the cake so that Sonia can go with Carol and support her. Tosh arrives at the café after Tina is late home for their appointment at the clinic. When Sonia arrives and Tosh twigs that she has been distracted by making a cake for Sonia, she angrily leaves. Tina catches up with Tosh at the tube station. Tosh tells her only to come with her to the clinic if she is 100% committed. Tina assures Tosh that they are in this together. Later, Tina and Tosh arrive back in Walford after their appointment at the clinic – full of disappointment. They have been told it’ll be a thousand pounds a time with only a 15% chance of it actually working. Tina takes Tosh to the Vic to cheer her up – Sonia arrives with a slice of the cake Tina made for Morgan. Tina blows her off, telling her it’s a bad time and to keep the cake. She promises Tosh that they will have this baby- whatever it takes. Charlie bumps into Ronnie in the Minute Mart. He exclaims that she’s been ignoring her calls. Ronnie suggests they go for a drink in the Vic later that afternoon for a catch up. Charlie waits at the Vic for waiting for Ronnie to show up for their arranged drink. When she doesn’t, he knocks on the door of number 27 and tells her that if she’s seeing someone else than to tell him – she lies and tells him that that is exactly what the case is. Credits Category:Episode Category:2014 Episodes Category:Stub Category:Hour-long Episodes